Saturday, July 12, 2008

And we are off...

Today marked the start of the annual American Society for Virology (ASV) meeting. This year the meeting is in beautiful Ithaca, NY. From a professional standpoint, ASV is a good gathering for virologists around the country to share their science. There are some international scientists at the meeting, but it is not the most international of meetings. There is also a lack of attendance from certain scientists that carry out research in specific areas, like the retrovirologists and Herpes folk, who have their own meetings. Even so, ASV is a fun, casual meeting.

I have not attended ASV since I was an undergrad, so it was fun going through the motions this time around as a postdoc. I have also been very excited to get the opportunity to catch up with old friends from my grad school years. As such, I am happy to say that two great people I know from my graduate years, Tim and Mehul, gave fantastic talks during the first workshop of the day. Mehul was actually hooded right before me last year, so it was great seeing that he has gotten so much accomplished in only a year.

With my talk coming up tomorrow night at 800 pm, I must say that I am feeling a bit intimidated, which is unusual for me. I saw some very good talks today from very knowledgeable people, and I just hope that I can put up a decent show tomorrow. Good night from Ithaca.

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